The Tale Across Thirty Years
by ThePervinErmin
Summary: A lame story name, I know, but for once I couldn't think of anything that fit. Mehh. Anyway, White day fic for March 14. LinkxZelda, one-shot. Rated T for a kiss, two character deaths, and for dramatic aging.


**Hello, Happy White day everyone! Here I am, at long scraggly last with another holiday fic. This one takes place over the span of thirty years! I usually don't focus on adult romances.. it's weird. Anyway, enjoy, I hope every girl received a White day gift from the boy of her dreams.**

**And of course, disclaimers, Link and Zelda and Legend of Zelda are not miiiiiiiiiine. And neither is White day, I'm very sure everyone already knows.**

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Once upon a time, long ago in Hyrule, there was a young peasant named Link. Once, when he was a child, he was friends with the kingdom's princess, Zelda. Their fathers had been friends, and when Link was born and his parents had died in the war, the king took him under his wing as his own. For years, the princess and peasant boy played together. As the years passed, the king began to grow old and quite soon was struck with illness. At last, his failing health gave out when Link was aged seven years from ten, and Zelda six. She was too young to rule, thus decided by the council. They appointed her uncle as the Steward until she would be of age.

Her uncle had always disapproved of the peasant boy. He was always too dirty or too loud or all together too mannerless and too much a bad influence on the princess for the Steward to favor the youth. And now he had his chance. Link was told to pack his things and leave the castle.

Link had to leave. What could he do? He was up against the Steward, who had promised Link that he'd personally see to it that he was decapitated and his head presented to Zelda if he did not go. Therefore he bid his dear Zelda and beloved home goodbye, promising her that he would be back whenever time would finally allow him entrance. He shouldered his pack and set out, to seek whatever job he may to keep up a living, while Zelda watched from the window and waved 'till he was a silhouette, a black line, a shadow, and then beyond the horizon, the memory of his farewell kiss still on her lips.

A year passed. She heard no word from him and she never received answers to her letters. Had he forgotten her birthday?

Two years passed. She was nineteen now, and ready to ascend the throne. Even in the lower towns, there was no word of him. Had he vanished?

Four more years passed. She was twenty-three and refused all the suitors that poured forth from the surrounding kingdoms. She loved Link and would marry no other even if it meant that she would never marry.

Two more years passed. Her uncle died of a heart failure. He was buried in the graveyard of the royal family, beside his brother the king, who had followed the same path down to death. Zelda no longer knew why she refused to give up on him. Link was obviously not coming back...right?

Three years passed. At twenty-eight she had shaken all suitors but the most stubborn, the King of the Gerudo. Still she refused to marry him. He was the son of Ganondorf, who had in days of her late father waged a failed war on Hyrule.

And then, the following year, Zelda was informed that at her gates stood a hero they did not recognize and he refused to leave without an audience with the queen. At last after the pages were weary of an argument that lasted three hours and a half past midday Zelda yielded to an audience and the hero was brought in.

As soon as he entered, he bowed deeply. He wore green attire and a long green hat, and all that he carried on his person was a sword, a shield, and a worn crossbow. She did not recognize him. She demanded that he stop wasting her time and leave. At last he lifted his face and came forth into the dusty light that was cast in by a far window. It was Link. The young queen dropped her words in midsentence and her hands flew to her mouth, stifling the sudden sobs that made their way up her throat and the involuntary tears that stabbed her eyes and snaked down her cheeks. She jolted to her feet and ran across to room to him.

And then she was in his arms, spinning around and around, crying and clinging to him, her hands shaking.

"Why did you never come back? I waited for you! My uncle has been dead for four years now, and I've been queen for even longer," she wiped her eyes on her delicately embroidered sleeve.

"Zelda," Link came to a stop, looking into her eyes and spoke in a quiet voice. "As nobody, I had to work hard to gain anything. At first I worked as a farm hand, then as a blacksmith's apprentice, then as a shoemaker, even as a pirate's ship hand, and so on, with many odd jobs in between. But the salary was always too low. At last I made myself a sword and set out to make my way as a hero, protecting the weak. Finally, after all these years it was enough."

"What was enough? And enough for what?" Zelda shook her head. "I don't understand."

Link's mouth widened into a broad smile and his eyes shone. "Enough for this," he said as he let go of her, lowering himself to one knee. From a pocket of his trousers he brought forth a glinting white ring carved of pearl. He looked up into her eyes once more and simply said, "Will you marry me, Zelda?"

She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, or simply to do both. In the end, she couldn't remember which one she did.

"Yes, Link," she said, "yes. I will."

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**This was definitely different from anything I've ever written before. But I thought it was a really cute idea when it came into me head, so here it is! I hope it was satisfying even if it was...odd, the way it turned out. Bye bye until next time and thanks for reading!**


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